No Wild Card For the Central?

[Dead Simmons]

My gut feeling is there will be none this season. As of today the Central is only 1 game over .500 vs the West, and down 7 games to the East. Needless to say that if that trend continues the WC's will go to either the Braves, Rockies, Nats, SF and maybe the Dodgers.

 

I find this worrisome. (am I overreacting?)

 

I'm anxious to play the Rocks. I just have to SEE this team for myself. So far they are awesome. (not so much on the road)

[IndyCrew]

I'd say so. A couple of injuries, and/or a streak--like your Cards seem to always do, and everything will be jumbled up.

[Dead Simmons]

I'd say so. A couple of injuries, and/or a streak--like your Cards seem to always do, and everything will be jumbled up.

That's true. More than 4 months left. But we better start beating the Phils, Mets and T.B. SOON.

[young guns]

As long as the brewers win the division I will be happy if no central team gets a wild card. Especially the cards!

[Outlander]

I imagine if the Cardinals don't win the division that they will have one of the two wild cards.

[bani1717]

The relative standings are pretty much meaningless at this point because there is so much baseball yet to be played. Right now a single winning or losing streak could probably move a majority of teams from "in the playoffs" vs "out of the playoffs." My general rule is that the standings don't really mean a whole lot until late June (about halfway through the season). We know the Cards will pick things up, the Brewers have already started falling off a bit, etc.

 

I try to avoid even thinking about the standings until my personal "cutoff" date of late June so that I don't get too high or too low on the Brewers. In the past few years we've seen teams make up 8-10 games over the last month or two of the season, so a few games ahead/behind right now doesn't really mean a whole lot to me.

[dlk9s]

Couldn't care less about how many teams make the playoffs from a division.

[Dead Simmons]

Couldn't care less about how many teams make the playoffs from a division.

I feel differently. Until this year 90% of the national TV coverage went to NY, Boston and LA. That means revenue/payroll!

 

To my amazement that has all changed this year, and a big reason for that is the finish of the NL Central last year. ESPN and MLBTV must have gotten together and said: "OMG! A whole season with no ARod! What will we do with this mediocre team with no ARod?!!"

 

"I know! And our fair haired Boy Pujols is toast! We still have Puig but he could crash into a wall or a tree (in his Lamborgini) at any moment, and his teamate, Blackbeard, is ailing! What will we do?"

 

"Well, we could pretend to care about the superior teams in the colorless NL Central. The Cardinals have been to the post season a lot and do have a large, spread out fan base. We could spin the Pirates into a great rags to riches story. We could pretend that the Reds losing Choo and Arroyo didn't really happen!"

 

Oh man, I could go on and on about this topic, but I'm tired of typing.

[dlk9s]

After NY, Boston, Anaheim, and LA, ESPN pays the most attention to the Cardinals.

 

I really, really don't care about teams other than the Brewers. The Brewers had a rags-to-riches story recently and nobody cared.

[Dead Simmons]

After NY, Boston, Anaheim, and LA, ESPN pays the most attention to the Cardinals.

Acually, ESPN has shown more Card games than any other team. MLB shows a ton of Yankee games. Angel games are shown on both networks more than the Dodgers, and Red Sox games are WAY down!

 

But MLB had quite a lot to say about the Brews after the sweep of the Pirates and Bosox about the time I joined the forum. They have since tailed off, smelling a resurgence by the Cards, who are still sputtering on about 6 1/2 cylinders.

 

The panel shows don't seem to know that the baseball season has started. It's all about the NBA playoffs, Johnny Manzel, that gay football player and the old fool Sterling. (about once a week there's a quick comment on Puig)

[dlk9s]

Well, all of those except Manziel are more interesting/important than May baseball games.

[Dead Simmons]

The current playoff picture

 

Giants..... 34-19

Brewers.. 32-22

Cardinals 29-24

Dodgers.. 29-25

Braves.... 28-24

Marlins.... 28-25

Rockies... 28-25

 

The Nats, Pads, Bucs and Reds are all 3 or more games behind Marlins/Rocks. No other team has a reasonable shot at this point.

 

The Cards host the Giants tonite for a four game set. Hope to take 'em down a notch.

[djoctagone]

Couldn't care less about how many teams make the playoffs from a division.

i'd care . . . especially if more than one team from the nl central advances. it means more revenue for those teams . . . revenue that they can spend in the winter to make themselves even better. is it not the case that the team with the best record in the league plays the wild card winner in the division series--unless they're in the same division? thus, each team in the nl central could potentially make it to the league championship series to face each other . . . meaning more revenue for each of them.

[Dead Simmons]

Couldn't care less about how many teams make the playoffs from a division.

i'd care . . . especially if more than one team from the nl central advances. it means more revenue for those teams . . . revenue that they can spend in the winter to make themselves even better. is it not the case that the team with the best record in the league plays the wild card winner in the division series--unless they're in the same division? thus, each team in the nl central could potentially make it to the league championship series to face each other . . . meaning more revenue for each of them.

That's what I told him on the 26th: "I feel differently. Until this year 90% of the national TV coverage went to NY, Boston and LA. That means revenue/payroll"

 

It's a no brainer. Keep the bucks in the Central.

[Fear The Chorizo]

way, way too soon to start guessing where wild cards will come from...frankly having 2 wild cards per league means any team hovering around 0.500 through July and even into August has a shot if they go on a two week tear.

[MadScientist]

Couldn't care less about how many teams make the playoffs from a division.

i'd care . . . especially if more than one team from the nl central advances. it means more revenue for those teams . . . revenue that they can spend in the winter to make themselves even better. is it not the case that the team with the best record in the league plays the wild card winner in the division series--unless they're in the same division? thus, each team in the nl central could potentially make it to the league championship series to face each other . . . meaning more revenue for each of them.

That's what I told him on the 26th: "I feel differently. Until this year 90% of the national TV coverage went to NY, Boston and LA. That means revenue/payroll"

 

It's a no brainer. Keep the bucks in the Central.

If the bucks aren't going to the Brewers, it's better that they go outside the division.

 

In any event the central is shaping up to have a good chance to send two teams to the playoffs. Two teams are playing well, two are mediocre and one is terrible. Unless Pitt and Cincy heat up, it means a the Brewers and Cards will be playing more games against teams with sub-par records than teams in other divisions. Of course there is nothing to say that the Brewers won't fall off a cliff (I'd say the Cards too, but when is the last time they've completely tanked?) If that happens there will be a fair chance of just sending one team, or having a different second team going.

[Dead Simmons]

Mad, you have to consider it this way: When the Yanks/Sox were getting all the ESPN games the other teams that benefited most were Toronto, Baltimore and Tampa Bay as they play them the most.

 

The Cards are a frugal team still blanching from the huge contract paid to Matt Holliday. It's a midwest mindset. You know they let Pujols go, and he was the face of the franchise. They would never pull a Steinbuner, no matter HOW fat they get.

 

All Central teams benefit by the inordinate coverage the Cards are presently getting. And it will increase if the Brews and/or Reds stay relevant.

 

(the Phoenix rising from the ashes story line of the Pirates seems to have gone with the wind)

[Ennder]

I still expect 1 from the central personally. The East seems to be beating up on each other and the West doesn't have a team I really trust in it.

[Dead Simmons]

I still expect 1 from the central personally. The East seems to be beating up on each other and the West doesn't have a team I really trust in it.

The Giants are pretty good. Better than the Cards for sure.

 

Speaking of the Cards, Matheny is in panic mode. Bourjus stopped hitting and they brought Shane Robinson back up. He got 1 AB with the game on the line and popped up. So they bring up a kid named Grichik and he goes Ofer....NOW they bring up the highly touted Oscar Tavares who will start this afternoon's game.

 

All these things occured in the space of 3 days! So I guess if Oscar does not go 4 for 4 they will be right back were they started, with the near useless Jon Jay back in CF. (sigh)

[markedman5]

Or Taveras could homer in his first at bat and Matheny will say he is the next Stan Musial

[Dead Simmons]

Or Taveras could homer in his first at bat and Matheny will say he is the next Stan Musial

LOL...his first ML hit came in his 2nd AB...a smash pulled to the RF stands. It got out quick.

 

Where will Jon Jay end up? You guys need a CFer?

[DuWayne Steurer]

Or Taveras could homer in his first at bat and Matheny will say he is the next Stan Musial

LOL...his first ML hit came in his 2nd AB...a smash pulled to the RF stands. It got out quick.

 

Where will Jon Jay end up? You guys need a CFer?

 

I think we have CF covered

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/host.madison.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/aa/aaaef38a-ff2d-539a-a558-9350d5127177/534a1260e2c28.preview-620.jpg

[Dead Simmons]

Or Taveras could homer in his first at bat and Matheny will say he is the next Stan Musial

LOL...his first ML hit came in his 2nd AB...a smash pulled to the RF stands. It got out quick.

 

Where will Jon Jay end up? You guys need a CFer?

 

I think we have CF covered

 

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/host.madison.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/aa/aaaef38a-ff2d-539a-a558-9350d5127177/534a1260e2c28.preview-620.jpg

For Gomez I'm sure the Cards would throw in Matt Holliday.

[Ennder]

Taveras is a nice player and all but he would be a 4th OF on the Brewers.

[Dead Simmons]

Taveras is a nice player and all but he would be a 4th OF on the Brewers.

True. And when Adams comes back he will be 4th in St. Louis too. He appears to be a dead-pull hitter. Soon he will be facing a shift.